|
Lindback
Nominations: November 30
Nominations
for Lindback Awards for members of the standing faculty, and for
Provost's Awards for full- and part-time associated faculty and
academic support staff are now being accepted by the Office of the
VPUL; send to Terry Conn at 3611 Locust Walk/6222 or conn@pobox.upenn.edu.
Criteria
and Guidelines
- The
Lindback Awards are given in recognition of distinguished teaching.
"Distinguished" teaching is teaching that is intellectually
demanding, unusually coherent, and permanent in its effect. The
distinguished teacher has the capability of changing the way in
which students view the subject they are studying. The distinguished
teacher provides the basis for students to look with critical
and informed perception at the fundamentals of a discipline, and
he/she relates that discipline to other disciplines and to the
worldview of the student. The distinguished teacher is accessible
to students and open to new ideas, but also expresses his/her
own views with articulate informed understanding of an academic
field. The distinguished teacher is fair, free from prejudice,
and single-minded in the pursuit of truth.
- Distinguished
teaching means different things in different fields. While the
distinguished teacher should be versatile, as much at home in
large groups as in small, and in beginning classes as in advanced,
he or she may have skills of special importance in his/her area
of specialization: skillful direction of dissertation students,
effective supervision of student researchers, ability to organize
a large course of many sections, skill in leading seminars, special
talent with large classes, ability to handle discussions or to
structure lectures--these are all relevant attributes, although
it is unlikely that anyone will excel in all of them.
- Distinguished
teaching is recognized and recorded in many ways; evaluation must
also take several forms. It is not enough to look solely at letters
of recommendation from students. It is not enough to consider
"objective" evaluations of particular classes in tabulated
form; a faculty member's influence extends beyond the classroom
and beyond individual classes. Nor is it enough to look only at
a candidate's most recent semester or at opinions expressed immediately
after a course is over; the influence of the best teachers lasts
while that of others may be great at first but lessen over time.
It is not enough merely to gauge student adulation, for its basis
is superficial; but neither should such feelings be discounted
as unworthy of investigation. Rather, all of these factors and
more should enter into the identification and assessment of distinguished
teaching.
- The Lindback
Awards have a symbolic importance that transcends the recognition
of individual merit. They should be used to advance effective
teaching by serving as reminders to as wide a spectrum of the
University community as possible of the expectations of the University
for the quality of its mission.
- Distinguished
teaching occurs in all parts of the University and therefore faculty
members from all schools are eligible for consideration. An excellent
teacher who does not receive an award in a given year may be re-nominated
in some future year and receive the award then.
- The Lindback
Awards may be awarded to faculty members who have many years of
service remaining, or they may recognize many years of distinguished
service already expended. No faculty member may be considered
for the Lindback Award in a year in which the member is considered
for tenure or is in his or her terminal year. All nominees should
be members of the standing faculty. The teaching activities for
which the awards are granted must be components of the degree
programs of the University of Pennsylvania.
- The awards
should recognize excellence in either undergraduate or graduate
teaching, or both.
- The recipient
of a Lindback Award should be a teacher/scholar. While a long
bibliography is not necessarily the mark of a fine mind, or the
lack of one a sign of mediocrity, it is legitimate to look for
an active relationship between a candidate's teaching and the
current state of scholarship in his/her field.
Who
has a Lindback?
For
a roster of Penn faculty who have won Lindback Awards since the
program's inception in 1961, see the University Archives website,
www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/notables/awards/lindback.html
which includes recipients through 2001.
Almanac, Vol. 48, No. 12, November 13, 2001
|
ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS:
Tuesday,
November 13, 2001
Volume 48 Number 12
www.upenn.edu/almanac/
|